Release of the State of Church Planting Report

At Path 1 we want to reclaim the habit of planting a church a day in the United States and return to our legacy as innovators and pathfinders for Christ. Last year we compiled records, statements, and insights from the past quadrennium to show how we are living out our mission to create new places that will make new disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world. All of this information is now being shared through The State of Church Planting in the United States resource. Much of our data shared came from reports compiled by our annual conferences in the U.S. as well as a national church planting study conducted by Lifeway Research in 2015. We shared celebrations where United Methodists are ahead of other denominations and traditions, as well as areas where we hope to improve and lessons learned along the way unique to different regions, demographics, and planting models. Perhaps our greatest lesson was that one size does not fit all when it comes to new ministries. Some people are looking for traditional churches that meet in their own sanctuary while others are more drawn to what our New Church Strategist Paul Nixon calls "weird church". These include coffee shop churches, intentional communities, fresh starts, house churches, and other unconventional ministries. As we continue our work into the 2017-2020 period we will encourage you to expand your definition of words like "church" and "faith community" as our denomination starts new ministries of all types great and small.

To read or download your free copy of the State of Church Planting Report go here